Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Jamal Khashoggi
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The reasons why America loves Iran
The US State Department denied a report that was issued last week by a respected international institution that alleged that a secret agreement would allow Iran exemptions that would facilitate the continuance of their nuclear programme. But who would believe them? Iran has violated the agreement that it signed...
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Does Saudi Arabia need relations with Israel?
Saudi Arabia needs neither relations nor normalisation with Israel, but why is this question becoming relevant? And why is it being asked so often at a time when interest in the Palestinian cause has declined, which also means a decline in the interest in the question regarding relations with...
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Syrians from Aleppo are not waiting for US elections
Life, politics, killing and destruction in Syria will not be put on hold until November when Americans elect a new president. No one should expect the new president to be any different from the current one, Barack Obama, in regards to the US’ bad policy in our region. The...
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Suspicions in Washington
I wrote recently about circumstantial evidence that was being withheld by the United States within the text of a 28-page document because it is allegedly harmful to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, there remains much speculation surrounding Saudi Arabia’s role in the “War on Terror” and whether or...
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Good fences — and borders — make good neighbours
The proverb, “Good fences make good neighbours” is apt for state borders whose demarcation should be a cause for celebration rather than dispute. I say this after the re-drawing of the maritime border between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. As I understand it, this is the final...
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A race towards Al-Raqqah
Saudi Arabia and Turkey have wasted a number of opportunities in Syria. If they had intervened early on to resolve the issue, it would have been less expensive and costly than it is today. As such, they should not waste the opportunity to win the race to Al-Raqqah this...
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The conflict in Syria is between states not rival sides
Last week I warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a threat to Saudi Arabia due to his stubbornness and politics when it comes to Syria. There was wisdom behind my warnings, which found their place among some of the most widely read articles in Al-Hayat newspaper, which was...
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Putin's threat to Saudi Arabia
We ought to take seriously the implicit Russian threats in an article in Pravda newspaper calling for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to be punished before they cause a third world war by supporting ISIS. This is what the newspaper, which is quite close to Russian President Vladimir Putin,...
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Save Egypt
Having love and caring for Egypt necessitates removing the imagined ban on addressing what goes on there by the sole influential Arab media, by which I mean the Saudi media, or the Saudi-supported media. I do not expect that an article here or a candid report there will contain...
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An alternative project for Muslim youth could finish ISIS off
When “Operation Decisive Storm” began a few months ago, the supporters of ISIS launched a campaign to question its credibility. They were joined in this by their traditional enemies, the Houthis, those loyal to Yemen’s deposed President Saleh and whoever is allied with them, such as the Iranians and...
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Erdogan is still in the driving seat
A newspaper once published a report announcing the death of American author Mark Twain; he sent a message saying, “The report about my death is rather exaggerated.” This anecdote is used by American politicians when they wish to deny a report about them. It is, consequently, possible for Turkish...
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What comes after the Iranian nuclear deal for Saudi?
Had I written this article of mine to comment on the Iran and the P5 + 1 agreement without Operation Decisive Storm currently underway, I might have written a frustrated article expressing a frustrated Saudi opinion. The article might even have been one of capitulation. It might alternatively have...
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The Salman Principle
Weeks ago I wrote an article entitled “Each era has its state, its men and its foreign policy”. Today, and in the aftermath of the “Storm of Decisiveness”, time will prove to be more generous given us more than just that. It is the “Salman Principle”. To tell the...
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So that Egypt doesn't fall into the ISIS trap
By rejecting President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi’s call for military intervention in Libya, the UN Security Council and the international community have saved Egypt from falling into a trap set up by ISIS. The problem will be keeping the country out of its neighbour’s conflict. Amid the anger and desire...
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Each era has its own state and statesmen and its own foreign policy
States’ policies change when their leaders change or when their circumstances change or when their policies reach a dead end. All of this has happened to the Saudi foreign policy. Therefore, it is only logical to expect some change along this front. However, the question is where, how and...
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What is Ayatollah Biden apologising for?
The apology offered to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey by U.S. Vice President Biden is unimportant. What is really important is what he said disclosing that our view of the Syrian situation is still completely different from the American view. This can be summed as follows:...
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Concocting a conspiracy: The Arab Spring, the Huthies and ISIS
“We have to be cautious regarding what is being concocted for us in secret”. Have you stumbled against this sentence today in a newspaper of some sort? You must have. For this is an overused current sentence that is reiterated by so many writers and even officials as well....
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A different Arab-Israeli war but will it end differently?
Despite all the rhetoric about the Palestinian issue, such as it being “the Arab’s first cause”; the central, principal, existential and mother of causes; the initiator of revolutions and coups; and the justification for astronomical military spending, and so on; despite all of this, we, as Arabs and for...
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Palestine, the occupation and the resistance for beginners
In March 1955, an Israeli army unit attacked a camp belonging to the Egyptian army inside the Gaza Strip, which was entrusted to Egypt after the 1948 war. The Israelis killed 36 Egyptian soldiers in cold blood and wounded 28 others. One of the perpetrators was the infamous Ariel...
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Save Syria for Iraq has been lost
Have you at last seen the original Sykes – Picot map? It annexes Mosul to Great Syria, and this is exactly what is happening now. So, are we witnessing the restoration of things to what they originally were and the return of the root to the offshoot or the...